“Discovery” is evidence which supports the charges against you and an increased sentence.  Examples of discovery are crime scene photographs, an informant’s name and background, DNA samples, drug test results, and fingerprints.  “Discovery” can be five pages long, consisting of a rap sheet and a police report. It can also be hundreds of thousands of pages of documents in a complex fraud case.

In a criminal case one of the defense attorney’s first tasks is to ask for discovery from the government. Defendants have the right to see all discovery provided by the government.  In very rare exceptions sensitive information relating to a protected witness will be kept from a defendant’s view. 

Yes.

There is an enormous variety of pretrial motions in a federal case.  Some of the most common filed by the defense ask the court to relocate the trial to a different venue, or to prevent the government from introducing certain evidence at trial, or to compel the government to share evidence with the defense.

The defense’s first  motion is called  the “moving papers” or “opening brief.”  A prosecutor usually has one to three weeks to respond to the motion with an “opposition.”  The defense then typically has one or two weeks to respond to the “opposition” with a “reply.”  One to two weeks later, the court usually hears argument on the motion.  Sometimes, on a separate date, the court will hold an hearing to resolve any disputed facts.